Ski-sled



Nov. 4, 1952 w. c. BILLINGS SKI-SLED Filed Feb. 14, 1950 Ihwentor:

49 w c BILL/N65,

\ (Ittornegs.

Patented Nov. 4, 1952 ES PATENT OFFICE SKI-SLED William ClBillings, MudestohGaIfl-L Applicatioml efiruaryfi, 1950, Serial No. 144,121 fifilaimse (Cl. 280- 12) This; inventlonzrelatesztorsledlilia;conveyances;

fOIT. descending snow=covered1 slopes under: the: impetus, of.. gravity and. especially" to' those equippedzwith. skilikerunners:

Inxthe field; of..winteritsports;-. I have fonnd'ithatt,

there is no satisfactory equipment presently available "for deriving the: thrillszof'. skii'ngina sitting posture: The conventionaLtype-of.coast ing sled is useless on most-mountain-aslopes, and thetoboggan suffers; from avari-ety Ofdefects,

amongv which .the-i most': important isr-thelack. of

directional control. The: bobz-sled: can". be used.

only on carefullypreparedlrunwaysaandinvolves:.

dangers which. only; the; most. daring; and exeperienced of. sportsmen. are.--.willingv to: undertake.

thrilling descents; ofl snowecoveredi mountain;

slopes may -baaccomplishedlai'itiighra tesofrspeed in; asittingtposture and'lwithrfaaslessidanger of? injury thamisztrue: ofliskiing: generally or: evenaoff tobogganingiz. Adequate.directionalicontrolispro vided for bythe'propen shifting'zofiweightby the rid'enin somewhat .thessame' mannerc-aszimslfiing;

though not i requiring: thee skillful: muscular: cu ordination demanded when on skis:

Accordingly;.. it i's'aprincipah. object off. the present? invention to. provide aMsled-lika con-- veyance-sfnr use-in winter sports upomwhich: the: rider; may glide swiftly andtsafely dOWIlfiLL-SHOVllcovered. slope .whilei-na: sitting posture;and;foriwhich only a moderate degree oitwskilli by the. rider'is' requiredi.

Otherimportant' objects:are; To provide-such a conveyance? which amay-be readily-- andeffectively-'- guided by the mere: shifting of the rider's weight."

To provide. such acowveyance.of.lightweight" and compact. form, so" it may be: easily transported" from place, to. place. and. carriedby. the; prospective rider. without. theexpendlture .of an. undue amount spectra i To provide a constrnctiomwhich, shall: b.6432?- Outstanding features. of the 1 invention; reside.

inthe provision of 'a'r-main ski-like'runnenflankedr.

at opposite sides by auxiliaryhoutriggen skielikez runners which are spaced apart from but rigidlyr' and; 1312:- suchistabilizer bars: Iliserve ashand'i '50; pable of quantity productiontaaa reasonable {costtiedtothe mainrunner withimazcommon opera.-

tivezulanee In. preferred.embodiments, a. seat isset low.

uponthe: main runner, and low-set, longitudi-;- nally extending, stabilizer-bars project forwardly fromuthe seat at opposite sides thereof for grasp-- ing; by the-rider. and use. in regulating his shift of. weight. from: time to time during the ride.. outwardly; flared grooves at the undersurfaces f of the respective runners correlate with the stabilizingbarsin affording directional control of the-conveyance. by shift of Weight: on the part of the: rider.

Further objects: and features of the invention l willbeapparent from the following detailed detscriptiontof the presentlypreferredforms illustrated; by, wayof example and not of limitation, inthe; accompanying, drawing.

In :thezdrawingz Eigl 1 represents a: top. planview-ofa single seatgconveyanceapursuantto the invention;

Fi .2 2, a .side: elevation-;.

Rig; 3; a, bottom. plan. showing; the; grooves in.

the: various: ski like runners Elgr lla; transverse section taken on the; line Figs; 5:, 1,a; transverse section. taken on. the line Eiglzfir, :aq top plan: of I a dual; seat; tandem arrangement pursuant to the invention, the; view being drawn-to a reducedscale:

Referring towthe-drawingz. in the single: seater' formzof Fig-ell to 5, a relatively long; ski-like main runnerifi-is flanked by a pair-of relatively short, ski-like; auxiliary runners H and. I2. The

three'runners IE3, It, and I2 aresecurely fastened together by azrigidzstructural framework. l 3 made;

upof suitablegm'embers; such-as angle; irons l3a. and; i311, and; a; suitable longitudinal. member; suchla's channel. [30.

The angle: irons, ls3a. and I3b. are, preferably:

Weldedito oppositeeend's-of. the channel. |3c,,and aressuitablyaffixed' to. the three: ski-like: runners it]; Hi, and; I2, intermediate; the lengths thereof, asxby n'leansrof:v screws L41. Thus; suchski-likerunnerszarerigidly held in. spaced, substantially parallel relationship, with. their smooth under+ surfaces; lying substantially within a single op.- erative plane;

The framework I3 serves as a mount for, and. isyinturn; reinforcedby apairj'of stabilizer barsl5; which are rigidly attached, as by welding; to? opposite'end. portions, respectively, of the for- Ward andirears trans-verse" frame members I311;

grips for the rider during use of the ski-sled, and, to better provide for the rider shifting his weight for guiding purposes during descent of a snow-covered slope, advantageously converge from front to rear. They rise only a few inches from the upper level of the ski-like runners, and preferably slope somewhat upwardly from rear to front, as illustrated in Fig. 2, to govern the degree of forward lean of a rider during descent.

A seat I6 is mounted at a low level at the rear end of the framework l3, advantageously by bolting, at its rear, to a cross-member l1 upon which it rests, and, at its front, to a rearwardly inclined, standard l8, upon which it also rests. As so mounted, the seat I6 is immediately above the main runner Ill intermediate the length of the rearward half thereof.

The cross-member I1 spans and is conveniently attached to the rear ends of the stabilizer bars l5, resting thereupon, and, consequently, positioning the rearward portion of the seat l6 most advantageously with respect to such stabilizer bars. The standard I 8 is conveniently an inverted U-shaped member having its legs welded to the sides of channel I of the framework Hi. It preferably rises higher from the runners than do the stabilizer bars, so that the forward portion of the seat I6 is raised above the rearward portion, thereby giving a pronounced rearward slant to the seat, as illustrated, see Fig. 2. This aids the rider to maintain his equilibrium during weight-shifting and other phases of the descent.

For facilitating directional control of the skisled by the riders shift of weight from side-toside during descent of a snow-covered slope, it is desirable that the smooth undersurface of the long and centrally disposed main runner H] be provided with a pair of longitudinally-extending grooves l9, which flare outwardly, as at 19a, along the rearward portion of the runner. Likewise, it is desirable, that the rearward of this runner be flared outwardly somewhat as illustrated. It is desirable, further, that the shorter auxiliary or outrigger runners H and I2 be each provided with a single, longitudinally-extending groove, here indicated 20 and 2|, respectively, which is offset inwardly of the longitudinal central axis of the runner, and which flares outwardly along the rearward portion of the runner in a sweeping curve, here indicated 20a and 2m, respectively, that crosses to the opposite side of the runner. Preferably, the rear ends Ha and |2a of such auxiliary runners flare outwardly along the outer sides thereof, as shown.

During a descent, the rider sits on the seat l6 with his legs extended in front so that his heels are planted firmly against the forward transverse frame member |3a over the spaces 22 and 23 between the main runner l0 and the respective auxiliary runners II and I2. Such spaces are desirably less in width than the heel of a normal small-sized ski boot, such width depending, of course, upon whether the particular skisled or ski-plane is designed for adult or child,

so that adjacent runners will support the heel control has been found to be taken care of almost intuitively by the rider, right from the start. The structural characteristics of the conveyance are such that the rider is properly placed for best riding results by merely sitting and placing hands and feet in the positions provided. Control is practically automatic even for the amateur.

Referring now to Fig. 6, which illustrates a dual-seater: form of the invention. It can be seen that the main runner 25 is made sufficiently long to accommodate two sets, 26 and 21, of auxiliary or outrigger runners, and two seats, 28 and 29, in tandem. Otherwise, the construction of this form of the invention is preferably identical with the single-seater form described hereinbefore.

Whereas this invention is here illustrated and described with respect to certain presently preferred specific embodiments thereof, it should be understood that various changes may be made therein and various other forms may be constructed on the basis of the teachings hereof, by those skilled in the art, without departing from the protective scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A ski-sled comprising a main ski-like runner, a plurality of auxiliary ski-like runners flanking the main runner in spaced relationship at opposite sides thereof, the running surfaces of all of said runners lying in substantially a common plane; a rigid framework attaching said runners together, said framework having a forward transverse member and a rear transverse member; a rearwardly-positioned seat mounted over and immediately above the main runner, so that the rider is positioned at a low level relative to the said running surfaces of the runners, said seat being mounted adjacent the said rear transverse member, and the forward transverse member providing a foot rest; and an elongate stabilizer means rising above the upper level of said runners and extending forwardly from said seat for grasping by the hand of a rider.

2. The combination recited in claim 1, wherein the stabilizer means comprise a pair of elongate bars rigidly attached at their opposite ends, respectively, to the transverse frame members at respectively opposite sides of the seat.

3. The combination recited in claim 2, wherein the stabilizer bars are disposed at a level below that of the seat.

4. The combination recited in claim 3, wherein the stabilizer bars diverge outwardly from the seat substantially to the forward frame member.

5. The combination recited in claim 4, wherein the stabilizer bars slope upwardly from the seat substantially to the forward frame member.

6. The combination recited in claim 5, wherein the undersurface of the main runner is provided with a pair of rearwardly and outwardly flared grooves, and the auxiliary runners are provided with respective rearwardly and outwardly flared grooves.

'7. The combination recited in claim 6, wherein the grooves of the auxiliary runners extend along the inner margins of the respective runners and cross to the outer margins thereof in a sweeping curve rearwardly of saidrunnersQ 8. The combination recited in claim 1, wherein the undersurface of the main runner is provided with a pair of rearwardly and outwardly flared grooves, and the auxiliary runners are provided with respective rearwardly and outwardly flared grooves.

5 6 9. The combination recited in claim 8, wherein UNITED STATES PATENTS the grooves of the auxiliary runners extend along Number Name Date the inner margins of the respective runners and 664 215 Hickson Dec. 13 1900 cross to the outer margins thereof in a sweeping 2 099731 Gelbman Nov 1937 curve rearwardly of said runners. 5 94 WHLIAM a BILLINGS 3 5 Davisson Feb. 4, 1 1

- FOREIGN PATENTS REFERENCES CITED Number Country Date The following references are of record in the 30599 Sweden June 1934 file of t t t; 10 827,295 France Apr. 22, 1938 

